SoftRAID 4.0 improves performance, adds email

SoftRAID on Wednesday announced SoftRAID 4.0, a major upgrade to its RAID management software for Mac OS X. Expected to be demonstrated at MacWorld (booth 342), version 4.0 will be released by the end of Q1 2009 and will bring RAID enhancements to improve the rebuilding process -- especially on large volumes. With Fast Mirror Rebuilds, SoftRAID keeps track of which parts of the volume are used when a mirror disk is not present, and only rebuilds those sectors when the other mirror disk is reconnected.  This allows users to rebuild there mirror volumes in minutes rather than hours.

In addition, SoftRAID 4 brings other new features to the Mac for the first time, including email notification of errors and events that occur on the SoftRAID volumes, a command line interface (CLI) for remote maintanence, verification of disks and volumes, SMART error reporting and disk certification.

"The release of SoftRAID version 4 dramatically changes the landscape of backup software for Mac OS X users.", noted Mark James, Vice President of SoftRAID, LLC.  "With the innovations of Faster Mirror Rebuilds, ShapShot disks, eror reporting, and data verification, users can not only backup easier than has ever been possible, but be confident that the disks they store data on are reliable and not about to fail."

SoftRAID offers effective method and reliable method of providing both real-time and off-site backup.

The SoftRAID 4.0 will be available electronically for $70 to all 3.x owners; while the bootable CD version will be available for $20 more (plus $7 S&H). Users who purchase SoftRAID 3 after January 1,2009, will receive a free upgrade to SoftRAID 4.0. The full SoftRAID 4.0 electronic download will cost $130, while the retail CD will be $150.

Filed under: software
Other story tags: MWSF, software RAID